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Distributes specialty and center-of-plate food products to independent restaurants, chefs and hotels.
Distributes specialty and center-of-plate food products to independent restaurants, chefs and hotels.
Buys specialty ingredients, imported goods and meats from producers and delivers to restaurants and hotels, earning the markup, so profit depends on delivery size, the mix of higher-margin specialty items, and the cost of fuel and drivers. Growth has come partly from buying local distributors. The business is concentrated in big urban areas.
Moat: narrow (distribution, scale). Deep specialty-product sourcing relationships and chef-focused distribution logistics rivals find hard to replicate quickly.
Headquarters: Ridgefield, Connecticut, US · Founded: 1985 · Employees: 5,156
Size Chefs' Warehouse (CHEF) is a United States Consumer Staples company (Food Distributors) with a market value of $4.51B, the 1260th largest of 3,117 United States companies the cockpit tracks. Shares closed at $103.77 on 6 Nov 2026.
Performance Over six months the shares gained 27.0%, against -13.1% for the median peer and -1.1% for the United States market (cap-weighted) — highest of 8 in its peer set.
Growth Revenue grew 11.5% over the last twelve months (peer median +2.3%); the operating margin is 4.3% (peer median 2.7%).
Valuation It trades at 36.3× forward earnings against a peer median of 12.9× (most expensive of 7).
Price implies For today's price to make sense, revenue must grow about 23% a year for seven years (Req g). Recent delivered growth is +30%, so the hurdle is -8 pp: the price already allows for a slowdown.
Capital Return on invested capital runs 0.6 points below its cost of capital (11.1% WACC).
Short interest Short interest is 7.5% of the free float (15 Oct 2026).
Next results Next results expected around 17 Feb 2027 (exchange calendar; dates can move).
| TTM | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $4.51B | $4.15B | $3.79B | $3.43B | $2.61B |
| Revenue growth | — | +9% | +10% | +31% | — |
| Gross profit | $1.11B | $1.00B | $914M | $814M | $619M |
| EBITDA | $453M | $231M | $190M | $163M | $139M |
| Net income | $102M | $72.4M | $55.5M | $34.6M | $27.8M |
| Free cash flow | $182M | $87.8M | $104M | $4.21M | -$22.7M |
| Capital expenditure | $33.5M | $41.4M | $49.5M | $57.4M | $45.8M |
| Total debt | $946M | $975M | $916M | $926M | $837M |
The default views of Competitor Analysis ▸ Charts, drawn from the same data. Open them in the cockpit to change the axes, pin companies and read every value.
| Company | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chefs' Warehouse CHEF | $4.51B | +27% | +12% | 4% | 36.3× | 22.6% |
| Sysco SYY | $37.8B | +7% | +4% | 4% | 14.9× | -0.4% |
| US Foods USFD | $23.1B | +26% | +4% | 3% | 20.8× | 11.7% |
| Performance Food PFGC | $17.0B | +15% | +6% | 1% | 18.3× | 14.7% |
Peer set: Industry: the same industry and sector in any market, nearest in size. This is the same default set the interactive Competitor Analysis opens with.
| Measure | CHEF | Peer median | Rank in peer set |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-month return | -6.8% | +6.6% | 2nd lowest of 8 |
| 6-month return | +27.0% | -13.1% | highest of 8 |
| Distance from 52-week high | -12.4% | -16.2% | 2nd highest of 8 |
| Revenue growth (TTM) | +11.5% | +2.3% | 3rd highest of 8 |
| Operating margin | 4.3% | 2.7% | 4th highest of 8 |
| Forward P/E | 36.3× | 12.9× | most expensive of 7 |
| Growth the price implies (Req g, 7 yrs) | 22.6% | 4.1% | most demanding of 8 |
| Growth delivered (Del g) | +30.1% | +3.9% | 2nd highest of 8 |
| Hurdle (Req g minus delivered) | -7.6 pp | -5.5 pp | 4th least demanding of 8 |
| ROIC minus cost of capital | -0.6 pp | +1.8 pp | 4th lowest of 8 |
| EV / EBITDA | 11.7× | 11.1× | 2nd most expensive of 4 |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 1.7× | 2.5× | 3rd least indebted of 8 |
| Company | Market | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g | Delivered g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chefs' Warehouse CHEF | United States | $4.51B | +27% | +12% | 4% | 36.3× | 22.6% | +30.1% |
| Premium Brands PBH.TO | Canada | $2.86B | -13% | +20% | 5% | 12.2× | 7.4% | +12.9% |
| United Natural Foods UNFI | United States | $2.73B | -13% | -2% | 1% | 13.6× | 6.5% | +2.9% |
| Metcash MTS.AX | Australia | $2.55B | +12% | 0% | 3% | 14.1× | 0.9% | +3.9% |
| Busy Ming 1768.HK | Hong Kong | $8.31B | -36% | +68% | 5% | 11.3× | 16.0% | +143.4% |
| Maple Leaf Foods MFI.TO | Canada | $2.39B | -13% | -17% | 8% | 16.1× | 2.4% | -1.9% |
| Kato Sangyo 9869.T | Japan | $1.35B | +10% | +2% | 1% | n/a | -9.5% | +1.9% |
| Dole DOLE | United States | $1.31B | -7% | +8% | 2% | 10.6× | 4.1% | +16.1% |